Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Petuniaxc3x97hybrida cultivar Balsundeum.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Petunia plant, botanically known as Petuniaxc3x97hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Balsundeum.
The new Petunia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Arroyo Grande, Calif. The objective of the breeding program is to create new freely branching Petunias with large flowers and attractive flower coloration.
The new Petunia originated from a cross pollination made by the Inventor in 2000 of a proprietary Petuniaxc3x97hybrida selection identified as code number 464C, not patented, as the female, or seed parent, with a proprietary Petuniaxc3x97hybrida selection identified as code number 462C, not patented, as the male, or pollen parent. The new Petunia was selected as a single plant from the resulting progeny by the Inventor in Arroyo Grande, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal vegetative cuttings taken in Arroyo Grande, Calif. since December, 2000 has shown that the unique features of this new Petunia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Balsundeum have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Balsundeumxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Balsundeumxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright, outwardly spreading and mounded plant habit.
2. Freely basal branching habit.
3. Single flowers that are purple in color.
Plants of the new Petunia differ from plants of the parent selections in plant habit, flower form and flower coloration.
Plants of the new Petunia can be compared to plants of the cultivar Dancascharl, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in West Chicago, Ill., plants of the new Petunia differed from plants of the cultivar Dancascharl in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Petunia were taller than but not as outwardly spreading as plants of the cultivar Dancascharl.
2. Plants of the new Petunia had longer leaf petioles than plants of the cultivar Dancascharl.
3. Plants of the new Petunia were more floriferous than plants of the cultivar Dancascharl.